Study of groundwater quality in Greater Visakhapatnam City, Andhra Pradesh (India).

A systematic study has been carried out to explore the physico-chemical characteristics of groundwater in Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) area. Water samples from 32 bore wells, 16 open wells and two reservoirs at various locations in GVMC area were collected and analyzed for pH, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, total hardness, calcium, magnesium, total alkalinity, chloride and nitrate. The water samples near the sea have more chloride concentrations, than the samples far away from the sea. From this, we concluded the intrusion of salt water in to groundwater due to the over pumping of the groundwater along the sea coast.